Z's Cup of Teahttp://zscupoftea.com
Gluten-free and SCDSat, 30 May 2015 07:51:03 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngZ's Cup of Teahttp://zscupoftea.com
Three things to read, watch, and usehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zscupoftea/~3/wx2Z2GOjCSc/
http://zscupoftea.com/2014/05/02/three-things-to-read-watch-and-use/#commentsFri, 02 May 2014 23:56:53 +0000http://zscupoftea.com/?p=12954]]>I guest posted today on the website 27 Good Things, where I share three things good to read, watch, and use. It was tough to narrow down since there are so many things that I like and love, but I think I managed. The books I listed are very much reflective of my recent reading material.

I’ve already reblogged it on trend & chic, and am posting it here and on Writer’s Bone as well. I wish I could just reblog it again, but it seems you’re only allowed to reblog once under the same account on WordPress.com.

I was asked if I was interested in being a guest after I tweeted about one of the books I list, “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield and thanked John Saddington (@saddington) for recommending it. (He didn’t directly recommend it to me, but he did mention it as a book he tells everyone to read in a link that he had tweeted before.) Next thing I knew, I was tweeted by Mike, who runs 27 Good Things, and after a few more tweets, he asked me if I would like to do a guest post and here we are!

I first came across 27 Good Things when I read a post with John sharing his good things, which was when I learned about Daniel Pink’s “Drive” and shortly afterward borrowed it from the library. In that vein, I’m glad to have shared these three things to read, watch, and use and it is my hope that readers will find them useful, inspiring, informative, and entertaining, while maybe also discovering something new to them.

Hello and Happy May Day! It’s been a while since I last blogged here, so let’s have a small update.

As you know, I’m a community leader for Pressgram, so it was very exciting when it became a featured app in the App Store! Being featured is one of those big mysteries, so it was truly an honour for myself and everyone on the team.

With the rest of the Pressgram team (and some new testers!) I’m currently alpha testing John Saddington’s (the creator of Pressgram) newest app called Desk Publishing Machine that will be for the Mac desktop. You might’ve seen my posts on my other blogs written and published with it. You can keep up to date with the app’s progress, and learn more about it, on its blog. And if you’re interested in alpha testing, click here.

I’m also almost done writing a first draft for a story that I started last month (you might’ve seen my tweet about it), then it’s editing time. I’m keeping details close to my chest for the time being, but I can say that it’s a sort of a short story and I’m hoping to have it illustrated. I’ll be sharing more details in due time on my writing blog, Writer’s Bone, when I’m ready so keep an eye out!

So, those are three things. I’ve also been reading a lot, as usual – currently historical fiction (Hundred Years Wars/Wars of the Roses period) and the real period of history that is the subject of my historical fiction reads as well as Tom Standage’s books about the Turk, a chess-playing automaton, (reviewed here) and the history of the telegraph.

Now, on to the recipe! Since the first day of making these pancakes (about three days ago), we’ve been having them everyday and not just for breakfast but dessert as well. We’ve had them with butter, raspberry jam, although they’re good even plain without condiments.

The batter used is almost the same as the one for the basic gluten-free pancakes, except that I ran out of mochiko flour (sweet rice flour) and instead used what flours I already had and it worked marvellously. In fact, I’d say that the batter for these pancakes are a little bit lighter. They also can be flatter, not having as much rise depending on the power of the baking powder you use. (I ran out of baking powder and the one I’m currently using has monosodium phosphate, which made the pancakes – pictured – a little more fluffy and made them rise a bit more, as well as making bubbles appear in the pancake batter immediately. The baking powder I previously used cream of tartar, I think. You can read more about baking powder here in this helpful post from Jeanne at The Art of Gluten-Free Baking.)

One more thing: the batter becomes a blue-grey colour after a while, after you’ve added the raspberries and chocolate chips, and that’s okay! The pancakes will still look and taste fantastic, as I – and everyone else who’s had these pancakes – can attest.

My favourite part about eating these pancakes? Finding the raspberries inside; the chocolate is a nice compliment to the raspberries’ sweetness. It’s dessert!

Mix the flours and baking powder together in a large bowl or other vessel and create a well in the centre.

Beat the eggs and stir in the coconut milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk together until fully mixed. Add honey. Gently stir in the raspberries, then chocolate chips – as you stir, the batter will get pretty pink streaks!

Heat the pan over medium heat. Once the pan’s hot, add a small amount of butter or coconut oil. Scoop small amounts of the batter (generally, 1/6 to 1/3 cup) and pour into the pan per pancake, making sure each pancake gets some raspberries and chocolate chips (generally, one or two to three raspberries per). When bubbles start appearing on the surface and the edges are firm, flip the pancakes and cook until the other side is nicely browned. Repeat until all the batter is used. Note that you may have to stir the batter occasionally, as the chocolate chips sink to the bottom.

I first borrowed the ebook version of Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays by Jeanne Sauvage, better known as gluten-free baker extraordinaire at Art of Gluten-Free Baking, last year from my library. When I bought the hardcover last month, I was even more blown away by it; I was amazed by the recipes, and also by Jeanne’s depth of knowledge and expertise.

As implied by the title, Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays is a cookbook for the winter holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, but there are some recipes that are versatile for any time of year like the Dinner Rolls and Super Soft Bread. In a similar vein to Sweet Cravings, another gluten-free baking book, the recipes are built on a foundation of classic techniques and use simple, natural ingredients that are easily recognizable and staple items, so that it feels as if one was reading a traditional, wheat-filled baking cookbook. Best of all, they’ve all been meticulously made to not only taste just like their wheat counterparts but even have the same or similar texture and mouthfeel.

I’ve gotten to know Jeanne online, through her blog and conversations on Twitter. I’ve made her recipes on her blog, and now from her cookbook, and they’re all winners! For Christmas, I made her recipe for Pepparkakor (Swedish gingerbread) many times, which everyone loved, and I’ve also made her gluten-free pie crust with success, which has made me want to master pie making (and that I’ve started to do). As I read the introduction in her cookbook, I became more and more duly impressed with her aforementioned expertise. I expressed this on Twitter and was delighted when she said yes to an interview.

I ask Jeanne about the research that went into writing her cookbook, recipe testing, the merits of learning and utilizing classic baking techniques, and the progress of her second cookbook (with a projected release date of Autumn 2015). This interview was conducted over email.

(Interview after the jump!)

ZOE (Z’S CUP OF TEA)

The first thing I was impressed with, even before the recipes, was the wealth of information you included in your cookbook. I love reading about the science of baking and learning how it works as much as I enjoy the process, so the ratios of starches, gums, and proteins was particularly interesting. Did you do a lot of research as you learned to bake gluten-free, was it by trial and error, or a combination of both?

JEANNE SAUVAGE

At first it was mainly trial and error and intuition. I was an avid baker before I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance in 2000, so I started with what I knew about wheat baking and went from there. After about three years, I discovered the work of Bette Hagman (The Gluten-Free Gourmet), Carol Fenster, and Beth Hillson (who founded The Gluten-Free Pantry). I poured over and baked from their recipes for a few years and learned a lot from them. Then after a few years, I began to branch out and start to do research into wheat baking chemistry and science. My thought is that I would take what we know about gluten baking and then “reverse engineer” this information for gluten-free baking.

ZOE

Some of the recipes you include are popular favourites from your blog and are available for free. How did you achieve a balance of including recipes from your blog and new ones?

JEANNE

My first book came about after an editor from Chronicle Books (Amy Treadwell) contacted me after seeing a series of holiday recipes that I had running on my site. So, some of those recipes, plus a few others, made their way into the book (in a more refined form). But, most of the recipes were original to the book. My goal (and my publisher’s goal) was to make the book mostly new recipes. It will be the same for the next book. There’s no use in having a book that is just a rehash of recipes you can already find on my blog.

ZOE

The transition from food blog to cookbook is a fine line to tread and rehashed recipes is one point that often gets criticized or is complained about in Amazon reviews. By including those recipes from your blog, but more refined, along with new ones, you managed to do that balance perfectly! (Readers interested to learn more about Jeanne’s cookbook deal can read her interviews at The Green Apron here and part two here.)

In November of last year, you were invited to talk at Google. You wrote about it, and posted the video of your wonderful talk on your blog, recently. (Read Jeanne’s post and watch the video here.) One of the topics in your talk was about was going back to basics and using classic baking techniques, such as creaming butter and sugar together. In many ways, your cookbook – especially with the baking tips section – reads a lot like a traditional baking book. Was that your intention?

JEANNE

Yes! I really wanted to share the information that I had learned from all of my studies. I’ve found that my readers are helped by knowing how and why things work (as am I!). Also, I have found more and more on my blog that people are coming to gluten-free baking with no baking experience at all. So, I try to give them the basics so they are more empowered to have success in their baking.

ZOE

With a knowledge of classic techniques and an understanding of how gluten works, do you think that these two things, together, improve our efforts in trying to mimic the results of gluten and lead us to better understand how gluten-free baking works?

JEANNE

Yes!

ZOE

You mention Julia Child as one of your baking goddesses in the headnote for your Steamed Plum Pudding recipe and Nancy Baggett – another baker and cookbook author you admire – wrote the foreword. Who are some of the bakers and/or cookbook authors who have influenced or inspired you?

JEANNE

Oh, there are so many. My other baking goddesses/gods are: Dorie Greenspan, Alice Medrich, Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), Sheila Lukins (Silver Palate), Edna Lewis, Peter Reinhart, Dan Lepard, Rose Levy-Birnbaum, Shirley O. Corriher, Christina Tosi (Momofuku Milk Bar). I like all of these people for two primary reasons: their recipes are inspiring and their approach to baking is open and exploratory. I learn so much from their research and insights. And all of them are sticklers for accuracy: they all test the heck out their recipes and therefore you can rely on them. I try to emulate this—and meticulously test the my recipes and get outside bakers to test them, too.

ZOE

You recently announced that you’re writing a second cookbook and that it will be more general baking. Can you tell us a little bit more about it and the process so far?

JEANNE

The working title for my next book is: Gluten-Free Wishlist: Sweet and Savory Treats You Miss the Most. I am just thrilled about this book. It’s a book I’ve wanted to write for quite some time. It will be a combination of baking foundations and pantry essentials (with things like homemade evaporated milk and homemade powdered sugar), and chapters on types of baked items: cookies and bars, pastry, breads, fried treats, pasta and dumplings. I will also have chapters on how baking works and how to find the appropriate ingredients and equipment.

Currently I am working on the bread chapter. Bread is the most challenging thing to do gluten-free, so I wanted to get that chapter down before I went on to the other chapters. Right now I think I’ve finally cracked the code on English Muffins (I’ve been working on them for about 2 weeks!).

Recipe development is really a roller coaster for me. There are days when everything works really well and I’m pleased and other days when nothing works and I’m down in the dumps about it. But, one thing I learned from my first book is that the recipes that are the hardest to develop often turn out to be the best ones. So, I try to approach the days of failure as stepping stones to excellence. Also, my husband and daughter love to taste test the things that work—so they’re happy that I’m writing a new book!

Thank you so much, Jeanne!

Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays is available for purchase on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold!